DOCUMENT BASED QUESTIONSH I S T O RY L E A D T E A C H E R M E E T I N G

M O N D AY, D E C E M B E R 7 , 2 0 1 5

HISTORY-SOCIAL SCIENCE FRAMEWORKCHAPTER 8 (DRAFT) • Teachers employ both the History Social Science Content and Analysis Skills standards

to develop their students’ critical thinking, oral language, reading, and writing skills in a manner that is consistent with the California Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies.

• Teachers promote the development of students’ twenty-first century skills through activities that allow students to think creatively, solve problems, work collaboratively, communicate effectively, and connect learning from multiple subject areas.

• Students are given the opportunity to engage in discipline-specific inquiry by learning, for example, how to analyze both primary and secondary sources as evidence, and create their own historical arguments and interpretations.

• Students are provided with discipline-specific support to develop their expository writing ability, and in particular, their ability to write using a thesis, supported by evidence and analysis.

• Students are encouraged to seek connections between topics and evaluate and organize ideas for their significance and relationship to each other.

DOCUMENT BASED QUESTIONS • Is inquiry based

• Requires students to build learning from multiple sources

• Requires students take a look at issues from multiple perspectives

• Requires students to take positions on issues or problems and support their conclusions

• Provides an opportunity for students to experience the connection between reading, thinking, speaking, and writing

• Focuses on critical thinking skills

• Provides students a chance to interact with historical records

• Provides an opportunity for students to encounter appropriately complex texts

EXAMPLES OF DOCUMENT BASED QUESTIONS

•What do each of the examples have in common?

•What is different?

•What will students need to do/know in order to be successful?

•What needs to be in place before students begin working on a DBQ assignment?

WHERE TO BEGIN?1. Begin with an Essential Question. This should be an investigative/inquiry based question, and students will write their essay answering it.

• Possible Stems: – Assess the validity of the statement…

– To what extent…

– Explain why…

– Compare and contrast…

– In what way(s)…

– Describe the changes…

– Analyze…

– Why…How…

2. Determine whether students will be writing an Argumentative Essay or an Informational/Explanatory Essay.

WHERE TO BEGIN?

3. Determine what background information the students will need prior to be given the DBQ assignment.

4. Select the appropriate documents. Be sure to consider:– Reading level (simplify or edit as necessary)

– Length of documents

– Types of documents

– Purpose of each document

– Number of documents

TYPES OF DOCUMENTS

• Textbook excerpts

• Letters

• Newspaper articles

• Charts and Graphs

• Maps

• Certificates

• Court records

• Edicts and Laws

• Government documents

• Posters

• Diary entries

• Financial records

• Illustrations and Paintings

• Photographs

• Editorial Cartoons

• Speeches

• Oral interviews

• Song lyrics

WHERE TO BEGIN?5. Determine the sequence of the presentation of the

documents.

6. Write at least one key question for each document. These guiding questions will help the students answer the Essential Question.

7. Review the SBAC rubrics for the essay assignment. Create other rubrics as necessary.

8. Determine what skills students will need to analyze the documents.

COMMUNICATION, COLLABORATION, AND CRITICAL THINKING • Model the type of thinking you expect them to practice

• Have a systematic approach to cooperative learning

• Model cooperative learning expectations

• Have students read/view the document multiple times

• Hold students accountable for their individual work as well as their participation in their groups

• Circulate and monitor groups as they are working

• Check for understanding frequently

• Remind students they are “thinking like historians”

WRITING THE ESSAY

•Analyze writing prompt and rubric in class together

•Provide an exemplar and review it as a class

•Follow the writing process

•Scaffold as needed

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